Florida shopkeeper accused of taking tourist's lottery winnings

Comment #20

luisM — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 19:06:59 GMT

Well, the barcode checkers are relatively new. In fact, I'm not sure that every state has them. Before the internet, people would ALWAYS buy the newspaper to check their numbers. Perhaps another reason why newspapers are dying nowadays.

Comment #19

LotteryTechInc — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 16:59:16 GMT

It's pure laziness when you don't check your own tickets unless you go too a store where you can trust the clerks I always check my own tickets at home on the internret and I always go too Publix too use the stand-alone ticket scannner too double check I never ask clerks to check my tickets, NEVER

Comment #18

luisM — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 16:06:45 GMT

Shame on this Lottery vendor. But it happens all across the USA. Recently Dateline NBC was trying to do an undercover story about this happening in New York. But the NY Lottery officials found out about it and sent WARNING notices through the terminals to all the vendors about what NBC was up to. Since then NY Lottery installed bar-code checkers at vendors so that people could check their own tickets.

Comment #17

LotteryTechInc — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 21:56:08 GMT

SIGN your tickets people that will cut down on fraudulent acts at these convenient stores cause once they scam you they can't get passed your signature being on the ticket so the scam can't go any further.

Comment #16

B$Rizzle — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 19:46:41 GMT

Im curious as to how the store owner was able to print out a reciept showing a $600 win.

Leads me to believe he previously had a winning ticket worth $600 and he held onto it for a situation like this. I would imagine lottery retailers cant just print a reciept with any winning amount so they could fool customers.

Comment #15

RJOh — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 00:33:07 GMT

I wonder what date AND time was listed on this 'receipt' for $600 [does anyone have a photo of it that they can upload for us?]

It wouldn't make any difference what it had on it since it wasn't official. Sounds like Farah was set up for such situations but I would have thought he would have had $600 to complete the false transaction unless he was so greedy that he thought paying $600 for a $5000 ticket was too much. Now he's feeling he was used because the guy acted like a dumb tourist that h... [ More ]

Comment #14

HaveABall — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 23:42:19 GMT

The article reads: Farah told him the ticket was worth $600. ''When he looked, nothing came up on the machine,'' said the victim. ''But he printed out this piece of paper that said I had won $600.''

I wonder what date AND time was listed on this 'receipt' for $600 [does anyone have a photo of it that they can upload for us?] I wonder why the vacationing winner didn't also take a photo of this piece of paper before leaving the store for the final time that day.

I wonder if the Farahs ow... [ More ]

Comment #13

savagegoose — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 07:47:12 GMT

well it was kind of a mystery prize, anything over $599 isnt shown. it may well have been a $600 prize or anything above.

sure the shop owner went beyond what his duty is, thats to sell the stuff and make payouts when appropriate, haggling over what you will pay for a mystery ticket isnt in the terms of the lotto contrct.

he should have just done wht hes sp[osed to do , hand the recipt and tell the guy to take it to a pawn shop if he wants cash NOW

Comment #12

RJOh — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 03:07:30 GMT

Some clerks probably just want to make sure they have enough cash on hand to pay out before scanning the ticket unless they do as one place where I buy my tickets and payout in money orders if it's over $50.

Comment #11

HaveABall — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 02:03:18 GMT

It appears that Florida's Farah brothers have very dangerous feelings and thoughts concerning what is 'stealing,' 'using,' 'favoring/helping,' 'fair trading,' and what is 'making business'. Reading about the Farah brothers comments, thoughts, and actions made me think of retching

Comment #10

HaveABall — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 01:52:31 GMT

Well, Perdue, there are millions of folks who continue to insist on residing in the U.S.A. the disrespectful, annoying, and lazy way -- without learning to speak and/or read the English language. Unfortunately, via charging tax payers for double street signs, manufacturer's instructions, and translators at government offices this rude and eventually dangerous behavior probably won't be ceased any time soon.

Comment #9

PERDUE — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 22:58:31 GMT

Working on it. Sometimes it seems like I am on the slow boat to China to winnig my $342 million. lol

Don't give up hope you still got a shot at being the first.

Comment #8

dphillips — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 21:35:39 GMT

What would make a Florida shopkeeper take someone's winnings? First of all, stealing definitely isn't good public relations, and second of all, the shopkeeper didn't win the money.

People are so darn impatient for their lottery ship to arrive that some of the shopkeeper's will throw all their morals and values to the wind. It's almost impossible not to get caught in this day and age of technology.

Comment #7

Grovel — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 19:04:22 GMT

Hey perdue I have been meaning to ask you about your sig. Did you win 312 million? If so congrulations. I was hoping to be the first jackpot winner on LP though.

Comment #6

maringoman — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 16:26:46 GMT

I'd be upset if someone took advantage of me. It's good the snip was arrested.

Just because the politicians are working overtime to take alll our money doesn't give the green light for shopkeepers to follow their example!

This post has been automatically changed by the Lottery Post computer system to remove inappropriate content and/or spam.

Comment #5

inittowin — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 15:14:29 GMT

You gotz to be smarter than the lottery ticket that you buy...

Comment #4

luckyshoes — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 15:11:46 GMT

I totally agree. Check them, sign them ! I like the clerks where I buy my tickets but they ve asked me how much they re worth before they scanned them ..... even if they were only worth 40 bucks.

Comment #3

dpoly1 — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 14:24:15 GMT

Be very careful when in Florida ............

Several years ago I stopped at a convenience store in Florida and the clerk asked me to give HIM my PIN number so that he could process my transaction as a debit!

Needless to say, I told him that I wasn't an idiot and said to process it as a credit transaction!

Florida is full of Scammers!

I can scan my tickets at the counter as well as double check them myself here in PA

Comment #2

PERDUE — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 14:21:06 GMT

He said vs He said. If only there was audio to go with the video in this story.

Who is lying and who is telling the truth?

This is why it is so important to know the rules of any lottery you play. This is why it is so important to know how the game pays the winners. Too many lottery players expecting to have their hand held when it comes to being paid.

If you are going to play in a different state know the rules. In this day of available information there is no excuse. Plus the rules fo... [ More ]

Comment #1

sully16 — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 12:54:47 GMT

check your own tickets people.

Florida shopkeeper accused of taking tourist's lottery winnings

Lottery Post — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 12:11:15 GMT

Naji Farah thought it was his lucky day: a $5,000 lottery prize.

The only problem, police say, the lottery ticket wasn't his.

The Miami Beach market owner is accused of scamming the rightful owner, telling the man the ticket was worth $600 and pocketing the rest.

Police arrested Farah, 45, this week on a charge of felony grand theft. And Florida lottery officials have suspended his store's license while the criminal charges are pending.

Miami Beach police say Farah took advantage of... [ More ]